By now, almost everyone is familiar with the Internet and the World Wide Web (Web). The Internet is a collection of interconnected communication networks that together pan the globe. Information content on the Internet is presented via pages, each page comprising a file that is stored on a computer server that is coupled to the Internet and assigned a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), which is essentially an address on the Internet. These pages are accessible to anyone with access to a computer coupled to the Internet and who knows (or at least can determine, for instance, via search engine) the URL of the particular page of interest. Most pages on the Web are, not only directly accessible, but also accessible via other pages on the Internet through a protocol termed hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the computer language generally used to describe how pages are organized, formatted, and linked together via the Internet.
Specifically, pages on the Web are interconnected via hyperlinks. A hyperlink is a portion of text or an image in one Web page that automatically addresses another page on the Web. By manipulating one's mouse to cause the screen pointer to move over the hyperlink and clicking, the page associated with that hyperlink is accessed via the Internet and is made to replace the previous page on one's computer screen.
Web browsers are computer programs that enable one to access and view Web pages via direct addressing (typing the address of a Web page in an address field) and/or by hyperlinking as described above. Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Explorer are the two most common Web browser software packages in use today. These Web browsers generally load and display a single page on the computer screen at any given time. When a Web browser links to that page, the browser software loads and displays that page. The browser may maintain a copy of the previous page(s) in memory for quick retrieval and display should the operator wish to return to that page, as is very common when surfing the Web.
The organization of Web pages relative to each other in accordance with hyperlinks in the HTTP protocol may be characterized as linear or tree-like. Of course, one may directly access any page on the Web simply by typing in its URL in the appropriate field of a Web browser. However, accessing Web pages through the use of hyperlinks, which, in practice, is the way most Web pages are accessed, is through a tree-like organization such as illustrated in FIG. 1. That is, a first Web page 12a contains a plurality of hyperlinks, 14a, 14b, 14c, to other Web pages. In FIG. 1, each hyperlink is shown as a connecting line 14a, 14b, 14c, et seq. between the page containing the hyperlink (originating page) and the page to which it links (the destination page) with the arrowhead pointing to the page to which the hyperlink connects (i.e., the arrowhead points away from the page containing the hyperlink). Two pages may cross-hyperlink to each other such as illustrated by connecting lines 14a, 14e, 14f, and 14i with double arrows.
Because of the tree-like organization, one must perform several hyperlinks to get from one page to a second page that is not directly coupled to the first page by a hyperlink in the first page. For instance, if one wishes to navigate from page 12a to page 12l using hyperlinks, one must hyperlink from page 12a to page 12b, then from page 12b to page 12f and then from page 12f to page 12l. 
This tree-like organization can be a severe nuisance when someone knows to what page he or she wishes to link but must go through several hyperlink to arrive there. Let us consider a very common example in the field of e-commerce in which this problem may manifest itself. Suppose an individual is browsing the e-commerce Web site of a general retailer such as an on-line department store. The individual wishes to buy a pair of jeans, but does not know the URL of the exact page on which the jeans he or she wishes to purchase appear, but only the URL of the main page, of the retailer, e.g., departmentstore.com/jindex.htm (most Web browsers will also recognize departmentstore.com alone as this URL). The individual would type in “HTTP://” followed by “www.departmentstore.com/” in the address field. The main page of an e-tailer would typically include a general welcome message, general information about the retailer and a plurality of hyperlinks to other pages maintained by the retailer. In order to arrive at the page that will allow the individual to order a pair of jeans, he or she may need to hyperlink through several layers of increasingly more specialized pages, such as Main→Clothing→Men→Pants→Casual→Jeans→Brand Name.
In this example, the individual had to go through six hyperlinks to get from the main page to view the page that would allow him or her to buy the jeans. For each hyperlink, the browser software must load the linked-to page, which can be time consuming.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for organizing, interfacing to, surfing, authoring, and viewing pages on the World Wide Web.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for geometrically organizing, interfacing to, surfing, authoring, and viewing pages on the World Wide Web.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for geometrically organizing, interfacing to, surfing, authoring, and viewing displayable computer files.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for geometrically organizing, interfacing to, surfing, authoring, and viewing pages on the World Wide Web via an interface that is a two dimensional representation of a higher dimensional space in a manner that is intuitive.
It is yet one more object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for three dimensionally organizing, interfacing to, surfing, authoring, and viewing pages on the World Wide Web.
It is yet one more object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for four dimensionally organizing, interfacing to, surfing, authoring, and viewing pages on the World Wide Web.